


Under the Bridge (Underswap)

by Azulscrown



Category: Undertale (Video Game), underswap
Genre: Broken Bones, Gen, Smoking, lazily written
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28910685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azulscrown/pseuds/Azulscrown
Summary: Sans manages to slip off a bridge in Snowdin, can this future royal guardsman get help in time before the snow gets littered in his own dust?
Relationships: Alphys/Undyne (Underswap)
Kudos: 4





	1. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome home Papyrus!

It was a nice chilly day in Snowdin, well it was chilly every day but that's beside the point. Wearing just a sweater, Papyrus exited Muffet's after being there foremost of the afternoon. He trotted down Snowdin town, passing familiar monsters on his way, one hand in his orange hoodie pocket and the other holding a cigarette to his teeth. How could a skeleton smoke without lungs? He wasn't sure. He always went to Muffet's, either to sneak away with a bottle of honey or just to chat with the bartender Ms Muffet. Honestly, he enjoyed her company, sure she acted like a condescending mother at times she was probably closer than anyone had come to being a mother to the two skeletons for a long time since they moved into Snowdin from the capital. While walking, he hummed lazily to himself, and overall found himself feeling energetic than normal, despite the fact that he was normally pretty tame. Whether that was because of the excess sugar he consumed was up for debate.  
He got to the door of the house, pulling his keys out of the pocket of his cargo pants. He briskly put the key into the keyhole and turned the knob. Stepping inside, he almost immediately walked into the kitchen to see his brother Sans preparing something on the stove. The brother heard the footsteps and turned around with a bright smile. He immediately turned off the stove and ran to hug his brother, his cyan eye-lights instantly lighting up upon eye contact.  
“Papyrus, you're home! I was getting worried about you!”  
“Hey bro. Whatcha making today?”  
“Tacos! I learned a new recipe from Alphys the other week and I finally get to try it out! Want one?”  
“Sure bro, can’t be as bad as last week's noodles.”  
“Hey! I didn’t mean to burn it! I just forgot the water- nevermind! I’ll tell you when they’re done!”  
“Ok, bro.” Papyrus said with a smirk. He walked into the living room and lazily threw himself onto the couch, he turned on the TV to see what was on. Napstaton’s show was the only thing showing at the time so he decided just to watch that. Not many shows aired in the underground anyway, and the background noise at least helped while he waited. Around 15 minutes passed before Papyrus was woken up by the sudden sound of his brother’s announcement.  
“Brother! the tacos are ready!”   
“Wha- coming Sans… hey, there’s no smoke this time.”  
He stretched, turned off the TV, and walked into the kitchen. Sans was putting the tacos onto the plates and handed them to Papyrus while he washed his hands. Papyrus set them on the table along with some napkins.  
“Thanks for helping Papyrus! Despite your constant comments about my noodles.” Sans said with a smirk.  
“No problem~, ya’ need any more help?” he said with another smug smile.  
“No thank you!”   
Sans turned off the sink, dried his hands, and promptly sat at the table.  
“So, how’s the training going with Alphys? Anything new?”  
“Well it’s been getting harder and harder, but she hasn’t said anything new about me being in the royal guard. She keeps saying that I still need more experience. But, that still doesn’t mean I’m giving up!”  
“That’s great Sans! Almost as great as these tacos!” Papyrus said with a laugh. The two conversed over dinner (which much to Papyrus’ surprise was pretty edible). After they finished their meal Sans opted to do the dishes while Papyrus put the leftovers away for the next day.   
“Hey bro, is it okay if I go to bed a little earlier? Do you need your story?”  
“I’m not a child Papyrus!” Sans pouted, “Go to bed if you must, just make sure the door is locked.”  
“Thanks, bro, goodnight~” Papyrus laughed, trotting out of the room with his hands in his pockets.  
“Goodnight brother!” Sans chimed from the kitchen.  
Papyrus retired to his room for the night and Sans finished up the leftover dishes. He wasn’t all that tired and opted to walk into the living room to see if he needed to clean anything that his brother might have missed the day before. Surprisingly, everything was clean other than the sock that his brother refused to pick up, causing him to roll his eyes in frustration. Sans couldn’t think of anything else to do, he decided to go upstairs to his room and at least try to sleep, he didn’t want to re-clean the house and wake his brother. He made sure his brother locked the door and turned out the lights, carefully walking up the stairs and into his room to lay down. After laying down for quite some time he found himself sound asleep.


	2. Rocks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Look out for rocks.

Morning struck, the false lighting of the underground seeped in through his window blinds. Oh, It was their day off and Papyrus actually woke up earlier than his brother.  
“Sans? You awake?” He asked, peeking his head into his brother’s room.  
“Hmm- what?” Sans said with a yawn. “Yes brother, what do you need?” he slurred, rubbing his eye sockets tiredly.  
“I’m heading out to see Undyne, I just wanted to let you know so you don’t freak out.”  
“Okay okay...” Sans huffed, “Just remember to lock the door and don’t slip on ice.” Sans huffed, plopping his head back down on his pillow.  
Papyrus left the house and started walking to Undyne’s lab in Hotlands, sure he could take the boat but that wasn’t nearly enough time to enjoy at least one cigarette. He wasn’t sure when he started smoking, but it was a habit he’d been meaning to break. Sadly it’s not as easy as people make it seem to be.  
Sans sat up on his bed thinking of what he could do today because it was apparent he wasn’t going to fall back asleep. Even on his day off, he decided to go for a walk and check on his puzzles, he did this often just in case a monster would run into one. Though it hasn’t happened yet, he knew he could never be too careful. He started getting ready, quickly slipping on a sweater and his boots since it was his day off and that battle body was mostly for show anyway. He went down the stairs, locked the door from the inside, and closed the door behind him. He walked through Snowdin greeting the monsters he passed with his signature smile and kept walking until he reached the end of Snowdin. Happily skipping along the long wooden bridge that connected Snowdin to the rest of the snowy part of the underground.  
Soon enough Papyrus made it to Undyne’s lab, knocking on the tall white doors. Undyne turned around to see Papyrus on the cams plastered on the wall and scrambled to buzz him in.  
“P-Papyrus! You’re here!” Undyne stammered, fixing her glasses.  
“Yep, anything new?”  
“N-no not yet, honestly I d-don’t think anything is gonna pass through those doors anytime soon.”  
That’s not exactly a bad thing he thought to himself.  
“S-so do you wanna w-watch anything since y-your here? Can I get you anything?” Undyne offered, not really sure why Papyrus was visiting her today.  
“Sure, what do you have in mind?”  
“I have a-anime and noodles, is t-that fine?”  
“Always has been.” Papyrus teased, earning a flustered noise from the scientist.   
Papyrus didn’t really like anime that much but he didn’t want to upset anyone so early in the day, plus it was what they watched most of the time he visited.  
Undyne started preparing the noodles and was looking for a decent anime while Papyrus sat down on the couch. She set two bowls of noodles on the table in front of them and put the anime on.   
Sans sat in the snow after checking his puzzles, and of course, all of them were empty. Sans sighed, starting to wander. It was quiet, nice, well it was until he heard a distressed cry that managed to catch him off guard. Sans frowned, following the sound that echoed through the snow-covered pine trees until he ran into a deer-looking monster covered in weird decoration.  
“Hey! You there, are you alright? Were you the one that screamed?” Sans asked, carefully approaching them.   
The monster swung around to look at him but his eyes were covered by... googly eyes? Wait, was that Gyftrot?   
“WHO’S THERE! GET AWAY!” the deer screamed, violently flailing around.  
“Woah! Hey! Hey, calm down! I’m not gonna hurt you!” Sans stammered, backing away to give the other some room.  
“YOU WILL NOT ASSAULT ME WITH PETTY DECORATIONS AGAIN!”   
“I’m just trying to help! But I need you to calm down first.” Sans assured softly.   
“KEEP YOUR DISTANCE! I DO NOT REQUIRE ASSISTANCE FROM YOU AGAIN!”   
“Again? Gyftrot it’s Sans! You know me!”   
“YOU’VE DONE ENOUGH!”  
“What are you talking about Gyftrot, I’m your friend! I didn’t do this! You-”  
Before he could finish what he wanted to say Gyftrot charged. Sans dodged right, barely avoiding the monster’s antlers. Sans frowned, someone could really hurt themselves if they came across Gyftrot in this state. Maybe the guard could help! Sans thought, remembering the guard posts he’d passed earlier on his way to his puzzles. Sans huffed,   
“Over here! Come get me!” Sans shouted, running back from whence he first came, good thing snow left footprints. Sure running in the snow wasn’t the smartest idea, but it was the only way he could get some distance from himself and those steadily approaching antlers. Sans continued to shout and tease the deer, leading him in his frenzied state towards the bridge. Almost there, right?! The wooden bridge swayed when the two ran onto it. Gyftrot noticing the sudden movement of the ground and starting to panic, quickly trying to run to the other side. Sans yelped, trying to hold onto the rope that lined the side of the bridge. While the other sprinted past, but sadly it didn’t help much since he was pushed pretty hard. Causing him to lose his balance and slip, his adrenaline spiked, holding onto the rope for dear life. Frantically kicking his legs, trying to get them back onto the wood. He could’ve screamed, cried for help but panicked in silence. The only sound that filled the air was the sickening snap of a rope before Sans started free falling. Now, was when he screamed and cried before a sharp pain hit his skull, followed by his vision cutting out completely. Maybe, he should have looked out for rocks.


	3. Awaken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And the violence begins~

The anime finished a long while ago, Papyrus and Undyne talked for a bit and even had another bowl of noodles.  
“What are you planning to do with the soul? You know, if another human comes through.”  
“I-I need to make another c-container for it..." Undyne paused, looking hopeful. "When we obtain t-this one we could break the barrier. Then w-we could finally get to the s-surface.”   
“Yeah, I can’t wait,” Papyrus said sarcastically,  
“C-can you imagine w-what the surface looks l-like?”  
“I heard there were stars, that’s all. I bet it’s big though.” Papyrus shrugged. “I’m not getting my hopes up.”  
“I really want to see what i-its like up there.” Undyne sighed in wonder.  
“Hopefully we will someday, right?”  
“Yea, I guess.”  
“That’s the spirit!” Papyrus laughed.  
“L-look who’s talking! You look like you're sleeping half the time!”  
“Hehe, that’s because half the time, I am.”  
Undyne playfully punched his arm, Papyrus slumped down on his side.  
“Oh, you got me. Bleg.” he stuck his tongue out and acted as if he were dead.  
“You dork! Hehehe!” she pulled his arm. “Get up! Don’t die!”  
“I’m a skeleton, already dead!” he joked  
“You were born a skeleton!” she huffed.  
The two laughed before turning their attention to the door opening behind them.  
“Heya nerds!” Alphys shouted when she entered. Undyne nearly jumped off the couch, her already cyan cheeks blushing deep royal blue upon the other’s arrival.  
“A-Alphys! Hi! Umm, w-welcome!”   
“You’re blushing hehe,” Papyrus whispered to Undyne with a sly smirk before Alphys approached close enough to hear it.  
“S-Shut up!” she playfully punched him again.  
“Alright alright.” he surrendered  
“So what are you losers doing?” Alphys asked.  
“Watching a-anime, w-want to watch?”  
“Count me in!” Alphys jumped in the middle of the two with a wide toothy smirk.  
“L-Let me put another one on!” she added as she walked over to a shelf and pulled out a DVD among the vast collection of anime that littered the shelf.  
“Hey Papyrus!” she said as she turned towards him.  
“Hey Alphys,” he said lazily, giving her a small wave.  
“O-Ok we should be good.” Undyne stammered as she sat back down onto the couch.  
The anime started.  
Sans woke up, his vision blurry and sharp pain throughout his skull. He was lying down face down in the snow. Deep crimson blood covering his face “A-am I dead?” he thought. He carefully moved his head onto its side so he could see where he was, but all he saw was pitch black darkness. “It’s s-so dark and c-cold.” he thought, “No I-I wouldn’t feel this pain if I was.” Sans shivered, it was cold, and he was in pain. He needed to get out of there, now. He tried lifting himself up with shaky arms, trying to move his body only greeted him with a piercing pain in his leg. He let out a loud groan, the new pain mixed with the one in his head made him see stars. Tears were welling up in his eyes, he’d never experienced this kind of pain in his life. He wanted to go home, he wanted to get up, he just wanted the pain to disappear, the drowsiness wasn’t helping either of his cases. He knew sitting there wasn’t going to help so he had to at least try to get back up. A royal guard could definitely handle this. He could handle this.  
He carefully removed his already crimson-stained scarf and planned to tie it around his leg. He carefully pulled up his pant leg to assess the damage. He almost got sick at the sight of it. His tibia was definitely fractured, sure it was covered in blood but the pain of breaking a bone was unmistakable. He cringed, he had to set it so he could wrap it in his scarf, or else he probably wouldn’t be able to walk at all. He took a couple of minutes to calm down, staring at his leg in utter fear. He counted in his head, “one...t-two…….THREE!” He grabbed the bone piece carefully and snapped it into its proper place. A sickening SNAP filled the air. At that point Sans screamed, letting it out. The pain was unbearable, more tears welled up in his eye-sockets as he wrapped the leg tightly in the once blue bandana, letting his tears fall down his face. Sans didn’t cry much, at least not around others. Only Papyrus was allowed to see that side of him, and he really wished his younger brother was here right now.


	4. A flame of hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A call for help!

Sans laid back in the snow with his eyes closed, having put most of his energy into setting his leg. Minutes? Hours? He wasn’t sure, but time passed. Sans starred up from the dark abyss, his eye sockets half-lidded, barely focused on the shadowy bridge that hung long above him when something… no… someone moved and peered down from the bridge. The thick silence was cut by just a faint,  
“Hello?” It was low but distant. “Anyone there?” It added, wait. He knew this voice! Grillby… what was he doing here, right outside of Snowdin nonetheless?! The man was made of fire for Toriel’s sake!  
“Gri-llby..” Sans called out, “H-here!” He managed to wheeze out, although screaming made his skull pound and world spin. Oh, stars if he had a stomach he was sure he’d be sick by now.  
“Sans?” Grillby frowned, adjusting his glasses. “Stars, what are you doing down there!?” He stammered in shock.  
Grillby shivered in the cold for a few minutes, the lack of response made his soul drop in his chest. “Sans. Did you… fall?!” He asked, eyeing the section of broken rope on one of the handles that lined the bridge. “If I don’t get an answer I’ll have to go get help.” 

Another few minutes passed.

Silence.

Grillby sighed, fiddling with his phone and scrolling to his starred contacts. Fortunately, the underground happened to have an emergency number. He dialed.  
Alphys rolled her eyes when she’d felt her phone starting to buzz in her bag. She rummaged for a second through the thing before pulling out her device to see who the hell was interrupting her da- visit with Undyne and… she guesses Papyrus because he was there first.  
Grillby? She thought in her head, why would he be calling her of all the people in the Underground?  
“I’m gonna take this.” She said, standing up from in between the two and walking away, she rolled her eyes at a loud “Booooo!” she received from Papyrus.  
Undyne paused the Anime and curiously watched Alphy’s expression shift from sarcasm to seriousness.  
“I’m on my way.” She said firmly, “Just stay calm and don’t go anywhere.” she added, hanging up the phone.  
“Did something happen?” Undyne asked, furrowing her brow in worry.  
“Yea. Erm… Papyrus.” Alphys frowned, “It actually has to do with your brother.”  
Papyrus shot his head around to look at Alphys, his soul sinking in his chest with worry.


End file.
